Calculate car depreciation

Model a vehicle’s remaining value with an editable annual reducing-balance rate.

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ToolCar Depreciation Calculator
Input
Output
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How it works

Purchase price is multiplied by (1 − annual rate) raised to the selected years, so each year removes a share of the remaining value. Modelled loss subtracts that result from purchase price and percentage loss divides by the purchase price.

Formula
value after n years = purchase price × (1 − annual rate)ⁿ
  • Fifteen percent is explicitly an illustrative scenario rather than a market average or appraisal.
  • Year zero exposes the purchase value and year five supplies an editable medium-term comparison.

Worked example

A 25,000 car, 3 years old, looking ahead to year 5
The default 15% a year reducing balance rate
Input
											Purchase price gbp: 25000
Age years: 3
Year to project: 5
Output
												Current value gbp: 15353.12
Value at chosen year gbp: 11092.63
Total lost by chosen year gbp: 13907.37
Percent lost by chosen year: 55.63

When to use this

Household budgets compare resale scenarios, ownership-cost sheets estimate residual value, and finance lessons contrast reducing balance with straight-line loss.

Edge cases

  • At 15% a year, five-year value is price × 0.85⁵ rather than price minus 75%.
  • A 100% rate leaves zero after any positive number of years but does not change year zero.
  • Mileage, condition, trim, fuel, accident history, supply, inflation, and real listings are absent, so the result is not a quote.